Kurta Memo: Board Questions, Evidence, and Filing Steps

The Kurta Memo discharge upgrade process lets veterans with less-than-honorable discharges ask a military review board to reconsider the separation when post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, another mental health condition, or sexual assault or harassment during service contributed to the misconduct. You apply on DD Form 293 or DD Form 149, and the board must give your evidence “liberal consideration” while working through a four-question framework issued in August 2017 by Acting Under Secretary of Defense A.M. Kurta. Approval rates across the boards run roughly 18 to 49 percent, so the quality of what you submit matters more than the fact that you qualify on paper.¹

Who the Memo Covers

The Kurta Memo applies to veterans whose separations may have been influenced by PTSD, traumatic brain injury, other mental health conditions, or sexual assault or harassment experienced in service. Board decisions sometimes group the last category under “military sexual trauma,” though the memo itself names sexual assault and sexual harassment separately.¹

The misconduct that most often opens the door to relief is the kind that surfaces when a service member is struggling without treatment: absence without leave, substance abuse, insubordination, and similar disciplinary infractions. Many veterans separated for these behaviors were never screened for the underlying condition at the time. Eligibility also reaches conditions diagnosed years after discharge, and, for sexual assault and harassment cases, the memo tells boards not to demand evidence that would be unreasonable to expect given how often these incidents go unreported.¹

Liberal consideration does not guarantee an upgrade. It means the board must give you the benefit of the doubt on the origin and impact of your condition, and cannot brush your mental health evidence aside.

The Four Questions the Board Must Answer

Every liberal consideration case is worked through the same four-question analysis, and your application needs to answer each one directly.¹

Did the veteran have a condition or experience that may excuse or mitigate the discharge? A formal diagnosis helps, but liberal consideration means the benefit of the doubt runs to you.
Did that condition exist, or that experience occur, during military service? Deployments, documented incidents, service treatment records showing early symptoms, or a credible account of in-service trauma can establish the link.
Does the condition or experience actually excuse or mitigate the misconduct? This is where applications most often fail. A PTSD diagnosis alone is not enough; you have to draw a line from specific symptoms to the specific behavior in your personnel file.
Does the condition or experience outweigh the severity of the misconduct? Nonviolent offenses tied to untreated trauma have the strongest path. Premeditated or violent misconduct faces a much steeper climb.

The board looks at you as a whole person rather than as a set of disciplinary entries, and the Wilkie Memorandum layered on additional guidance directing boards to weigh equity, rehabilitation, and post-service conduct as well.²

Which Form to File and When

The form and the board depend on how long ago you were discharged.

Within 15 years of discharge, file DD Form 293 with the Discharge Review Board (DRB) for your branch. The DRB can change your discharge characterization or issue a new discharge to reflect its findings.³

After 15 years, the DRB can no longer take the case. You file DD Form 149 with the Board for Correction of Military Records, or the Board for Correction of Naval Records, depending on your branch.⁴ The BCMR has broader authority than the DRB and can correct any military record when it finds an error or injustice, so some veterans still within the 15-year window choose to file DD Form 149 directly, particularly when they want record corrections beyond the discharge characterization.⁵

The BCMR carries a three-year statute of limitations that runs from when you discover the error or injustice. The board can waive that deadline in the interest of justice, and the earlier Hagel Memorandum instructed boards to liberally waive time limits for applications tied to the mental health guidance.⁵⁶

Submission methods vary by branch. The Army and Air Force accept applications through online portals. The Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard generally require mailing the completed form to the board addresses listed on the form itself.⁴

Building the Evidence Package

The form is the container. The evidence inside is what actually answers the four questions.

Your Military Records

Start with your complete Official Military Personnel File. Request it using Standard Form 180, filed with the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis; you can download the form from the National Archives site and mail or fax it in.⁷ Your service treatment records, evaluations, and disciplinary paperwork are the baseline the board will read; gaps here can hurt you.

Diagnosis and Nexus Letter

A diagnosis of PTSD, TBI, or another qualifying condition from a VA or private provider is essential. On its own, it does not answer Question 2 or Question 3. You need a nexus letter: a written opinion from a qualified clinician connecting your condition to your military service and explaining how the symptoms contributed to the specific misconduct on your record.

A strong nexus letter states the provider’s credentials, confirms they reviewed your service and medical records, uses the phrase “at least as likely as not” (the standard that triggers the benefit of the doubt), and lays out a clinical rationale for the connection. A one-paragraph note confirming a diagnosis accomplishes almost nothing. A detailed letter tracing your deployment history, symptom timeline, and the behavioral consequences of untreated trauma can be the single most important document in your application. Private psychiatric evaluations for this purpose run anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars depending on the provider and complexity.

Buddy Statements and Your Own Narrative

Signed statements from fellow service members, family, or friends who saw the changes in you add credibility to the clinical picture. They do not need legal formality. Specificity is what carries weight: “He started drinking heavily after his second deployment and wasn’t the same person” beats a generic character reference every time.

Your own statement is where you connect the dots. Walk through what happened in service, how it affected you, what specific misconduct followed, and what your life has looked like since. Boards read hundreds of these; the ones that land are honest, specific, and organized around the four questions. If you have pursued treatment, held work, or rebuilt relationships since discharge, say so. The Wilkie guidance directs boards to consider rehabilitation and post-service conduct.²

What Happens After You File

The board first runs an administrative check that your application is complete. Review itself takes one of two forms. A documentary record review means the board decides on the papers alone. A personal appearance hearing lets you or your representative present testimony and answer questions.⁸ Federal law lets you appear in person, through counsel, or through an accredited representative of a veterans service organization.³ Personal appearances typically take place at the board’s location, often in the Washington, D.C., area, though some boards have offered virtual hearings in recent years.

Processing times run from several months to well over a year, with personal appearance cases generally slower because of scheduling. When the board grants an upgrade, your branch issues a corrected DD Form 214 or a DD Form 215 correction document, usually within six to eight weeks of the decision.⁸

You do not need a lawyer to file, but representation raises the quality of most applications. Veterans Service Organizations such as the American Legion, VFW, and Disabled American Veterans offer accredited representatives at no cost. Pro bono programs, including the Veterans Consortium Discharge Upgrade Program and several law school clinics, place free attorneys on discharge upgrade cases involving PTSD, TBI, military sexual trauma, or other mental health conditions. Private attorneys who specialize in these cases are also available; VA-accredited attorneys can only charge fees under specific conditions set by the VA.⁹

What an Upgrade Changes

Most VA benefits require a discharge characterized as “under other than dishonorable conditions,” which covers honorable and general (under honorable conditions) characterizations.¹⁰ An upgrade from other-than-honorable to general or honorable can open VA healthcare, disability compensation, Post-9/11 GI Bill education benefits, home loan guaranty, and burial benefits.

Even without an upgrade, some limited benefits remain available with an other-than-honorable discharge: care for VA-rated service-connected disabilities, mental health care for those who served in a combat theater, emergency mental health services during a crisis, counseling at Vet Centers, and care related to military sexual trauma.¹¹ A corrected DD-214 can also affect employment opportunities and state veterans benefits, and for many veterans the paper itself matters as much as the benefits behind it.

If the Board Denies Your Application

A denial is not the end.

The DRB will reconsider a previously denied case in limited circumstances. The most common route is new, substantial, and relevant evidence that was not available during the original review, weighed against what the board already considered to see whether it would have had a “probable effect” on the outcome. Reconsideration is also available if you received only a documentary review and now want a personal appearance hearing, or if the military has announced retroactive changes in discharge policy since your last review.¹²

If the DRB denies you, the statute explicitly allows you to bring the case to the BCMR under 10 U.S.C. § 1552.³ The BCMR carries broader corrective authority and can address errors or injustices in your record beyond just the characterization. You file DD Form 149 and remain subject to the three-year discovery rule, subject to waiver in the interest of justice.⁵

If the BCMR also denies relief, you can challenge the decision in federal district court under the Administrative Procedure Act. The court reviews whether the board’s decision was arbitrary, capricious, or unsupported by substantial evidence. It is a legal proceeding that realistically requires an attorney, and it must be filed within six years of the BCMR’s decision. It exists as a check on board decisions that ignore the liberal consideration standard or fail to address the four questions the Kurta Memo requires.

1
U.S. Government Accountability Office. Military Personnel: Actions Needed to Improve Oversight of Discharge Upgrades for Veterans with Mental Health Conditions
2
Department of Defense. Guidance to Military Discharge Review Boards and Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records Regarding Equity, Injustice, or Clemency Determinations
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1553 – Review of Discharge or Dismissal
4
Department of Defense. DD Form 293 – Application for the Review of Discharge from the Armed Forces of the United States
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1552 – Correction of Military Records: Claims Incident Thereto
6
Department of the Navy. Supplemental Guidance to Military Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records Considering Discharge Upgrade Requests by Veterans Claiming Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
7
National Archives. Request Military Personnel Records Using Standard Form 180
8
Department of the Navy. Council of Review Boards – Policies
9
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Accredited Representative FAQs
10
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Applying for Benefits and Your Character of Discharge
11
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. What Benefits Can I Get If I Have an Other Than Honorable Discharge
12
Department of Defense. DoD Instruction 1332.28 – Discharge Review Board Procedures and Standards